TSMC unified iPDK works across multiple OpenAccess™-based EDA design
environments, eliminating the need for multiple proprietary PDKs, and enabling
full reuse of design data between different custom IC design toolsets. The iPDK
initiative is supported by all major EDA vendors including Cadence, Magma, Mentor,
Springsoft, Synopsys, and others. The first iPDK in 65nm was developed in collaboration
with TSMC development partners, Synopsys and Ciranova, and QA/validation partners,
Magma and Springsoft. Its interoperable approach improves design accuracy, shortens
design cycle times, promotes design reuse, and improves return on design investment.

“The iPDK is a long-awaited solution to many of the design problems that
have delayed new technology and tool adoption. Multiple and/or incompatible
PDKs on proprietary custom design databases have limited design reuse and portability,
and has resulted in high development, maintenance and support costs for all
ecosystem partners including TSMC,” explains ST Juang, senior director
of design infrastructure marketing at TSMC. “The interoperable design
kit will enable higher level of innovation and differentiation for our customers
in full custom, analog, and mixed-signal designs.”

TSMC iPDK is based on the OpenAccess database and data model. It features open
standard languages, Tcl and Python, for parameterized layout cells, callbacks,
and technology files and includes unified views of symbols. The modern and flexible
architecture easily accommodates specific customizations, future feature extensions
and advanced and differentiated development. Customers will be able to extend
the iPDK in the languages supported by the custom design tools of their choice.
The iPDK also includes SKILL™ callbacks and component description format
(CDF) files to provide compatibility with current OpenAccess-based PDKs and
Cadence IC6.1 environment. TSMC continues to collaborate closely with key EDA
partners to ensure full interoperability between the new TSMC iPDK and the currently
available PDKs

The new TSMC iPDK's single interoperable data model and highly productive
development infrastructure enables new iPDKs to be developed quickly and with
consistent quality, and be available earlier for advanced process technology
nodes. TSMC iPDK's interoperability with multiple EDA tools and design
flows remove design tool and flow adoption barrier, and offer customers more
choices of design tools. The result is faster adoption of tools and flow that
accelerate time-to-design-start for custom analog, mixed signal and RF designs.

TSMC iPDK unified data model on industry-standard OpenAccess database enables
design reuse that is not possible with multiple proprietary PDKs and design
databases. It eliminates duplicate PDK development efforts, significantly reduces
PDK development, validation and support costs across the design ecosystem, and
promotes innovation in analog and full custom design.

Pricing and Availability
The TSMC 65nm iPDK will be available July 2009 in limited release and at no
charge to selected customers. General release to other customers is targeted
for Q4 2009. Customers may access the 65nm iPDK at the TSMC Online customer
design portal http://online.tsmc.com/online/ or contact their local sales and
support representatives for details.

TSMC's Open Innovation Platform™
TSMC's Open Innovation Platform™ promotes timeliness-driven innovation
amongst the semiconductor design community, its ecosystem partners and TSMC's
IP, design implementation and DFM capabilities, process technology and backend
services. The Open Innovation Platform includes a set of ecosystem interfaces
and collaborative components initiated and supported by TSMC that efficiently
empower innovation throughout the supply chain and enables the sharing of newly-created
revenue and profitability. TSMC's Active Accuracy Assurance initiative
is critical to the Open Innovation Platform, providing the accuracy and quality
required in ecosystem interfaces and collaborative components.

Dr. Zina Jarrahi Cinker, Executive Director of the National Graphene Association (NGA), talks to AZoNano about the current state of the graphene market and how global standards can help sercure the materials future.

DR. Madeline J. Dukes, an Application Scientist from Protochips talks to AZoNano about their range of products, that are pushing the boundaries for laboratories who in the past where challenged when it came to in situ TEM tools.

SEM-Base® VI is considered to be the next generation in STACIS active piezoelectric vibration cancellation. The design of the SEM-Base VI allows it to support all commercial Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEMs), and also many Small Dual Beam and Focused Ion Beam (FIB) instruments.

The eLINE Plus from Raith is the optimum, extensively distributed system for Research Centers and Universities that want to integrate an Electron Beam Lithography system with an open platform for additional optional nanofabrication processes and methods in a single tool.

A Life Scientist wants to be able to see how biological materials look like at nanoscale resolution and how soft they are in buffer and liquid conditions. The Park NX-Bio enables that with its highly acclaimed Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) technology and its innovative in-liquid imaging Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy (SICM).